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Statcast of the Day: Vargas HR sets Twins mark

Slugger mashes 483-foot blast vs. White Sox on Tuesday

By
Shane JacksonMLB.com

MINNEAPOLIS -- From the moment the ball left the bat of Kennys Vargas, everybody at Target Field knew it was gone.

During a five-run third inning in a 9-7 win over the White Sox on Tuesday, the Twins designated hitter delivered the biggest blow off Chicago left-hander Derek Holland. Vargas deposited a 1-1 changeup into the second deck in left-center field, just above the bullpen, for a three-run home run.

MINNEAPOLIS -- From the moment the ball left the bat of Kennys Vargas, everybody at Target Field knew it was gone.

During a five-run third inning in a 9-7 win over the White Sox on Tuesday, the Twins designated hitter delivered the biggest blow off Chicago left-hander Derek Holland. Vargas deposited a 1-1 changeup into the second deck in left-center field, just above the bullpen, for a three-run home run.

According to Statcast™, the ball traveled an estimated 483 feet with an exit velocity of 114.1 mph. It is the longest homer hit by a Twin since Statcast™ was introduced at the start of the 2015 season.

"It was crushed," manager Paul Molitor said. "I don't see balls go into that part of the stadium, in that second deck, that far."

Vargas also recorded the team's previous longest blast on June 10, a 471-foot shot. His homer on Tuesday trails only the Yankees' Aaron Judge (495 feet) and the Brewers' Keon Broxton (489 feet) in MLB this year.

Vargas' homer was the fourth longest against an offspeed pitch since the start of 2015, and the second longest this year -- Judge's 495-foot homer came off a slider.

Perhaps what made it even more impressive was the fact it came from the right side. The switch-hitter has crushed seven homers this season, but Tuesday's was the first one from the right side. In fact, only nine of his 31 career homers have came from the right side.

"I know he wants to be a guy that you can count on in terms of giving balance from both sides," Molitor said. "It's been fairly lopsided, up until this point."

Entering Tuesday, Vargas was batting .303 against right-handers and just .094 off southpaws. His on-base percentage and slugging percentage splits were just as lopsided -- .326/.143 and .573/.094, respectively.

Vargas has been adamant about getting early work on the field as much as possible, to ensure he stays with the big league club. And during a batting cage session Tuesday afternoon, Molitor gave him pointers.

"He gave me some advice this afternoon," Vargas said. "It was good to hear that from Molitor, a Hall of Famer."